Phil SumblerSwansea’s winning run at the Liberty Stadium was ended this evening as they had to settle for a point against Tony Pulis’ Sheffield Wednesday side. Andre Ayew scored a second half equaliser to earn the point which cancelled out a well worked goal for the visitors in the first half.
The Swans went into this game on the back of three successive league wins at the Liberty and knowing that a win tonight would keep us hot on the heels of both Norwich and Bournemouth who have both looked more than capable of immediate returns to the Premier League.
Cooper resisted the chance to start Andre Ayew immediately following his return from injury so there was a second successive start for Liam Cullen with the Swans top scorer starting the game on the bench
The only goal of the first half came from a well rehearsed Wednesday corner which caught the Swans out defensively as the ball was squared across and Reach hit the ball to hit it past Woodman and in off the inside of the post to give the visitors the lead.
It was the only real highlight of a pretty uneventful first half that had seen the Swans toiling in midfield but never really looking threatening up front and Wednesday happy to soak up the pressure of us having the ball and looking to hit us on the break whenever it was possible.
One of the advantages of being able to use five substitutes for the rest of the season is that manager’s are more likely to make changes earlier in games where it is clear things aren’t working and that is just what Steve Cooper did at half time by bringing on both Kasey Palmer and Andre Ayew for Naughton and Cullen to try and shake the game up.
The impact was immediate with Swansea immediately on the front foot and showing additional urgency particularly from the introduction of Ayew who immediately was causing concern in the visiting defence. And it was Swansea’s top scorer who bought us level when he got into the box to curl the equaliser in on the hour mark which, at that point, was the least that we deserved.
Cooper made another double change with Manning and Routledge added into the play at the expense of Bidwell and Lowe in a clear sign that he was after three points on the night. At this point the Swans were very much in the ascendancy and Grimes and Dhanda both had shots from distance – the former’s shot being blocked with the latter’s just evading the far post with the keeper seemingly beaten.
As the game headed into the last twenty minutes Pulis made his own double substitution in a bid to try and bring his side more into the game and to slow down what seemed to be Swans progress. And for a while it worked with seemingly more organisation in the visiting defensive line restricting the Swans progress into the opposition penalty area.
A foul on Palmer presented a chance for the Swans 30 yards out and it was Dhanda who came close with a well struck free kick that just went the wrong side of the post against a keeper who would have had no chance had it been on target.
Swansea were continuing to dominate possession but weren’t creating the same level of chances that we were seeing before the international break but on the balanced side of that we were never really showing any signs of being under threat from a Wednesday side who were starting to indicate that they were happy with the point they were on course for.
Playing against eleven men who are firmly in the mindset of being defensive is not something we necessarily excel at and the clock was very much in danger of just being played out with no final chances coming the way of either side.
As the fourth official indicated five minutes of stoppage time, the Sky commentary team were clear that it could be a long five minutes for Pulis and when the ball fell to Ayew in the penalty area you wondered if this was the moment but the powerful shot was tipped over the bar.
It wasn’t quite the last chance of the night as Palmer did have the ball in the back of the net following an acrobatic finish from a corner but the referee’s whistle had already gone despite the Swansea protests about a high boot that wasn’t given. Not really fully sure what the referee saw to give the free kick Wednesday’s way but he had blown before Palmer struck his overhead shot.
That was the last action of the game and the whistle went to signal a point for each side – a result that will feel better for the visitors than it does for us but nonetheless it is another point towards our goal for the season.
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